HeartbeatPrva gimnazija Maribor, February 2015

Dreams can offer the answer for a better tomorrow, but if we want to realize them we have to wake up first.

Dear readers,

Let me introduce myself. My name is Andreja Ketiš Radič and I am a sec-ond year student and a new editor of Heartbeat.

I’m very happy to greet all of you. It’s February, a month that not only her-alds the start of the second half of the school year. It’s the month, in which we are visited by many new, unknown and little bewildered faces. Every be-ginning is difficult, but after all, you’ll learn something new and in a few months you will simply flow into the stream of Prva gimnazija.

EDITORIAL

Andreja Ketiš Radič, the new editor.

And what can you expect here?

There will be a lot of:

- hard work that will reimburse to even greater success,

- responsibilities, which will take you along the path of adulthood,

- education: in all the areas, you’d be eager to know more,

- professors will be strict, but also understanding and kind,

- knowledge, that you will get for a life time.

There is no success without effort, and happiness without sadness. Let me finish this with the motto of Prva gimnazija Maribor: Per aspera ad astra!

Sara Stiplovšek, the previous editor.2

Index

HeartbeatPublished by students of

Editorial board

Editor :Sara Stiplovšek

Andrea Ketiš Radič

Tehnical editor & design:Sara Stiplovšek

Team:Lucija Bravc

Karina ŠuntnerKaja KobaleNeža Divjak

Gloria JelenkoMiha LeitingerLara Jež Heinc

Pia Kovač Žana Plejić Maša Jazbec

Mateja Divjak Andreja Ketiš Radič

Laura Štampar Nives Križanec Lea Leskovar

Nena Robinščak Špela Gumzej

Lea Becner L.V.

Tomaž Golub Sabina Majerič

Pia Krampl A.H.

Mentor & proofreading:Zorana Fabrici Robnik

ISSN:C506-4473

February 2015

visit us at:http://www.pgmb.si/heartbeat/or contact us at:heartbeat@prva-gimnazija.org

Editorial board

21st Century Slaves Interview (Mr. Herman Pušnik) Th e Wolf of Wall Street How to Write a Song? London Th e Drive “See You Later Alligator!” High School Years School Th eatre and What It Feels Like to Act Ballet Teaches You to Be Flexible Where Will Tomorrow Take Me? Report On: Young Tourists in Maribor Brace Yourselves Mobile PhonesEaster Islands Food – a Friend or an Enemy? A Journey Across the Baltic Sea To Future Velvet I See Red When I See You A.H. Poetry

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In schools, a lot is being said about the slavery from the historic point of view, but somehow almost nobody even mentions a thing about the fact that slavery did not only exist in the past, it still does exist today. Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery, involving an illegal trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery or organ trade.

A lot of people think that human trafficking means the same as peo-ple smuggling, but in fact, this is a completely different thing. Smuggling people is a voluntary act, people that try to get into a foreign country allow other people to get them to another country in any kind of a way. Human trafficking, on the other hand, is not voluntary at all.

It is the third largest illegal business right after selling drugs and weapons. Traffickers face a lower risk while do-ing their illegal operations, because of lack of the public awareness.

They also get high profits, because humans can be sold multiple times. The human traffickers usually know every little detail about the victims, about their financial situation, family life, and their interests. They usually pick the poor, helpless, young girls and boys that come from poor en-vironments, undeveloped countries and broken homes, offering them a fake job or a career.

21st CENTURY SLAVES

Over 800.000 people are trafficked across international borders on the black market every year, 70% of them are women and 50% of them are chil-dren. This is hidden crime; traffickers use a lot of force and operate usually by stealing the victim’s identifica-tion documents such as passports, neglecting them and limiting their freedom.

They usually work in normal looking buildings or places that, from the outside, look as normal shops or restaurants, but in reality they hide and keep their victims captivated in the hidden cellars or attics. An average price of a slave is 90$ and surprisingly 42% of the traffickers are women.

This is a big issue in the modern so-ciety, but even a bigger problem is that the society is trying to hide what is going on, instead of letting people from all around the world know that this problem occurred and putting these cruel crime associations behind bars.

Human trafficking has already affect-ed every continent on Earth and the human, sex and organ trade is ex-panding each year and consequently, the number of victims is getting high-er and higher.

This is not a small thing, it is a very serious problem and I think that peo-ple should be aware that anyone can become a victim Awareness should be spread because at the end of the day it can save a life.

Lucija Bravc

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As we know you attended Prva gimnazija Maribor. How can you compare a secondary school (grammar school) back then and nowadays?

Back then there was a different system. The first two years of my secondary school education at this school was called Srednja družboslovna šola, and then the next two years it was „gimnazijski program“. Even though it wasn‘t officially a grammar school programme our professors always made sure that it was exactly like one.

Did you have any goals when you became the headmaster of our school?

When I became the headmaster there was and still is an economic crisis pre-sent, so the most important thing was to lead our school in a peaceful spirit. One of the main goals was also to provide good terms and conditions for work at our school and to give everyone a chance for creation.

Mr. Herman Pušnik, the Headmaster of PGM

INTERVIEW

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What kind of changes have you managed to introduce?

We have made a big progress in pedagogical part. Our professors are atten-ding different seminars, presentations, lectures. They try to, as much as they can, exchange the knowledge and experience with each other.

We have also tried to keep up with all the new technology, we purchased tablets and provided wirelless networks all over the school building.

However, the important thing has always been and still is spreading positive energy between students and professors. But certainly the priority is no mat-ter what to provide proper EDUCATION!

What makes our school unique and the best of the besties?

It‘s an honour being the headmaster of Prva, it‘s a nice function because of all the high quality. Because of its 165-year tradition Prva is the oldest school in the city. Also, the position of our 140-year-old school building is incredible. On the other hand, this school is being made by our students and professors.

For the 150th anniversary it was said: »One can never forget Prva!«.

What are the advantages of being the headmaster of PGMB?

I‘m proud that I‘m the headmaster of Prva, because we are happy whenever one of our students professional suceeds, either they are representing our school or it is their personal success. Also … the students in general. Because of them I‘m happy to come to work every single day.

What‘s your opinion about all the comparisons being made between Prva and Druga?

»Could we skip that question? (laughter).« I am convinced that schools can‘t be compared! Each one has its own history and its own particularities. I also admire secondary schools and professors that are teaching students with lower learning abilities and they still manage to give them all the knowledge they need.

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Before you became the headmaster you were teaching Maths. Do you miss being in class?

Yes, I do! I miss being in class and I miss teaching, that‘s why I always like to substitute. I also help students with studying.

As we heard your mandate is coming to an end. Can you tell us if we can expect another candidature?

Absolutely.

And we‘re already looking forward to it.

Good luck, Mr. Pušnik!

Karina Šuntner, Kaja Kobale, Neža Divjak

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From the 26th of December 2013 we were all able to see this movie in our cin-emas. As you may know the movie received lots of positi ve reviews. It is based on a true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corrupti on and the federal government. The movie was probably even more att racti ve because of its actors, such as Leonardo DiCaprio in the main role, Matt hew McConaughey as Mark Hanna, Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff and many others. Surprisingly we could even see one of Slovenian’s actresses Katarina Čas. I must say, that it was a phenomenal mo-ment seeing her wrapped in money. But it was an even more glorious moment, when I saw her waving the Slovenian fl ag.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

review

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As you can see, there are many reasons why one should watch the movie. But, the main reason why I wanted to write about it is the plot. That kind of life is so far away from my reality and probably yours, too. We go to school and we study so that one day we will be able to enrol to a college we want. Later, we will probably live with our partners and maybe have children. This is the idea of what my life will look like in the future. Let me try to show you how far away my life is from Jordan Belfort’s.

He was not rich at the beginning, the only thing he had was his marketi ng streak. Basically, out of nothing he made everything. He was able to sell what-ever you gave him. So far no problem, right? But it was not that easy. He suc-ceeded and became a millionaire. He had everything you can imagine; women, drugs, fame ... What else would anybody want? As you can assume, the story does not end at this point. Because of being human, he wanted more. We all heard that money has the ability to change a human into an animal. The same thing happened to him. He went out of control. He set a price for everything and everybody. When he faced the incorrupti ble policeman, he could not un-derstand why someone would not take his money. For the fi rst ti me he came across someone that he could not buy. He was also under the infl uence of drugs and alcohol on a daily basis. They became his food. And all these things brought him to the end. However, he went to prison for just a few years be-cause he cooperated with the police.

All this is shown in a funny way in the movie, but on the other hand, there is nothing funny about people like him. I do not care if they ruin their life, but when they mess with others the story changes completely. He endangered the life of his family. So, how many people like Jordan live on our planet? Because of the money they can rule the world? It is a shame that a piece of paper can bring us so far. It became the most important value. But just like a coin, life also has two sides and I sti ll believe in humanity. With words and knowledge we can change the world. It might take ages or maybe it will not happen at all, but this movie showed me, what kind of a person I certainly do not want to be.

To conclude, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely, and if not for the story, then defi nitely for its brilliant cast.

Gloria Jelenko

review

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Feeling depressed, in love, broken-hearted or happy? Those are the things that make you want to burst, and I know the exact thing how to put them out.

I wrote my first song about a flower in the kindergarten. It had two verses and I was very proud of it. Then my career as a writer stopped and was on hold until the 8th grade, when my first girlfriend left me. I wrote about 5 songs for her, and one was actually good, which made me feel better. I don’t have a hit, well not yet, but this is how I write my songs.

I sometimes start with the melody of the chorus, which you can use for the intro - often the “only” instrumental part.

After the intro I start writing THE VERSES. I normally start with the beginning of a story, how it happened what I felt... There are at least two or three verses that have the same instrumental structure but have different words. Not all the sentences rhyme but it is good to have some rhymes at least.

THE BRIDGE. This is the part of the song that shifts—it can suddenly change tempo, or volume, or instrumentation—it’s all a fair game. It often connects the verses and the chorus.

Now you have to write the most powerful part of the song - THE CHORUS. This is where it all comes together — all the verses lead to this part, and it is usually the part of the song people sing along with. The instrumental part can now change a bit, it can be a bit louder and it has to contain a phrase or a word which can become the title.

Then just add verses and bridges and repeat the chorus and you will get a good song. You don’t have to be an expert musician, but it is better, if you can play an instrument.

I hope this helps and that you’ll create some hits with my help :)

Miha Leitinger

HOW TO WRITE A SONG?

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September 201419 girls.2 teachers.Numerous sights.Priceless.

Buckingham Palace is as beauti ful from

the inside as it is on the outside.

M ake a London guard laugh and you‘re capable of doing anything.

We wouldn‘t mind being crowned or at least married in such a majesti c church

– Westminster Abbey.

LONDON

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In London you always know what ti me it is, because no matt er where you are, you‘ll always hear Big Ben striking.

Mind the gap, please!

A museum is a place where one sho-

uld lose his/her head.

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The Chinese are everywhere, even in London!

A beauti ful view of Greenwich and

the tall buildings of London.

888,246 ceramic poppies to comme-morate Briti sh soldiers killed in World War I.

A bad day in London is sti ll bett er

than a good day anywhere else.

Interested? You are more than welcome to join this school excursion in September 2015! Lara Jež Heinc, Pia Kovač

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I’ve been told to write about my impressions and expectations of Prva. And since I’ve been sitting behind my computer for at least an hour with only a title, I must be doing something wrong. I have asked myself where to start a thousand times. And then it hit me. Start. Why not start at the beginning? So buckle your seatbelts up because I will drive you all the way back to the start.

What do you want to do when you grow up? - is the question they have been asking us every year from when we started going to school. Over and over. The answers were always something like: a president, an astronaut, a doctor, a cowboy… But we grew older and responsibilities came along. Then suddenly, just like a snap of fingers, this question changed to: where will you continue your education when you finish your primary school? As for me, I always had only one option. Prva Gimnazija Maribor. So I guess you can imagine how nervous and anxious I felt when September started knocking on my doors, because believe me, I’ve never been more nervous in my life!

I’ll just tell you what is the first thing that pops into my head when I think about my first half of a year here so far. No sleep, studying, stress, exhaustion. And that is how we actually see school at first. As a burden, something we should put up with so we can have a great, prosperous future. We crawl from exam to exam, from day to week, from week to month and from month to year. We see all the negative things first because maybe that is what we want to see. Nobody will ever tell you about how great school can be. Like how you adapt to the new teachers and classrooms, or how you meet your best friends when you have an ice cream in one of the main breaks in September, or how you actually learn something you like. But high school is all about that as well. About making and collectingmemories, grabbing every opportunity you can, learning things that you find useful, not just the difference between x and y. And no matter how much you think you hate high school now, you will always miss it when you’re done.

My advice for all freshmen-to-be is make the most of it while you can. I know I’ll try. And if I’m honest, I would choose Prva all over again.

Žana Plejić

THE DRIVE

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Hello, hello my Heartbeaters! It’s been a long, long time since the last issue was published and many important and fascinating things have happened since then. Not just that I’ve stepped into my graduation year and that I fi nally turned eighteen, I was also on one of the most exciting trips in my whole life! Do you remember when I was writing about our relatives and cousins from Florida visiting our beautiful country Slovenia, as they said? But now the story has turned around...

In the beginning of the cold and windy November I fl ew to hot and sunny Florida to visit my cousins and actually to get in touch with real American citizens and their real everyday life. Our fi rst stop was in uptown Miami. My fi rst “American steps” were realized when we reached one of the world’s biggest airports MIA and as quickly as we fi nished all the security check-ins - Millie and her husband Marty were smilingly and warmly waiting for us and they took us to Boyton Beach where they live. With Millie and Marty (M&M’s as I call them, just like the sweet choco-late candy’s) there was also the other cousin Helen who came to see us from Cleveland. As all our American relatives she’s also one of the nicest

“See you later alligator!”

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person’s I’ve ever met in my life and I really appreciate them all. But unfor-tunately she had to leave in two days and I really must say that I still miss her like crazy even these days... And how did the whole trip actually go? Aft er the fi rst night in Miami we decided to visit the downtown and went for a ride with a boat. We also did some sightseeing by big buses. Miami is just like in the movies, the town is full of huge business skyscrap-ers and small islands with gorgeous houses owned by famous people. For example I’ve seen Michael Jackson’s villa, the famous Beyonce’s and Jay Z’s house and many, many more of them. As you see all of them, you stay out of your breath for a moment! But there’s another side of Miami, where many small villages are and one of the most known Cuban villages, Little Havana, where you can buy real Cuban cigars. One, two, and three my fi rst day in America came to an end.

We stayed in Miami for two more days and then our trip continued to the most southern point of America, Key West. Before leaving Miami we went to see some natural parks and safaris with alligators and had an ex-citing buggy and airboat drive. It was simply amazing! Oh, and I must not forget the famous Miami Beach and the street of rich people called Ocean Drive. As quickly as I felt the soft sand under my feet and a smell of the sea I sang to myself loudly: “I’m on Miami Beach!”.

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But not for long, because we had to set off for our next stop as already mentioned, Key West. We were driv-ing there for about 5 hours with our rented car, a real American Dodge. I admit I was impressed by this car like a little child and I still am... So, this was our destination for just one night but we’ve experienced it as real Key tourists. It is a small island but in the evening it turns out to be one of the loudest ones, where all of the streets are full of small bars and cafes - peo-ple have a drink, party around and most important have lots of fun! But when the sun rises the next morning Key West is again only one small nice and sunny island with lots of sight-seeing to do. I’ve visited the famous Hemingway’s house, where still today there are real progeny’s six-toe cats, and the Butterfl y world. Aft er this we had to leave for the next stop, which was Naples, most known for its pier where many famous movies were shot and where there are miles and miles of long sandy beaches. We stayed for three days and then continued to Co-coa Beach where all my dreams came true... Th ere are miles of gorgeous, long beaches, music all day round and hundreds of people sunbathing, surfi ng, relaxing and again a beautiful pier. I believe it’s the atmosphere and the spirit of so much that’s going on that gives you that special nostalgic feeling.

and hundreds of people sunbathing, surfi ng, relaxing and again a beautiful pier. I believe it’s the atmosphere and the spirit of so much that’s going on that gives you that special nostalgic feeling.

but we’ve experienced it as real Key tourists. It is a small island but in the evening it turns out to be one of the loudest ones, where all of the streets are full of small bars and cafes - peo-ple have a drink, party around and most important have lots of fun! But when the sun rises the next morning Key West is again only one small nice and sunny island with lots of sight-seeing to do. I’ve visited the famous Hemingway’s house, where still today

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And as it is appropriate, when you are in the USA you have to do some shopping to! Th e best place to do that was Orlando. Th is was again one of those moments, I was dreaming about.

As quickly as we woke up the next morning I heard the voices around me: “Houston we’ve got a problem...” and I knew that this was the day we wanted to see the world’s most known and interesting Kennedy Space Cen-ter. It is the place, where astronaut’s set off for space, or sometimes not... I could write a whole book about this day; because it was so interesting, all those rockets and space adventures,

you have to experience it to know what I mean, it can’t be described with words. At the end of the day Houston’s problem was solved and I fell asleep like a real astronaut... As days went by this was the last one before leaving my dream coun-try. Before we went to the airport we stopped by to bid farewell to our cousins. I admit that it was hard to leave such good and nice people and the worst of all is that you actually don’t know when you will see them again. With tears in our eyes and full of adventures we experienced there, we entered the plane that took us home. Home sweet home.

Maša Jazbec

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I remember my first day in high school like it was yesterday. I was both excit-ed and scared, because I didn’t know what to expect. I thought high school is going to be torture for me but it turned out to be the exact opposite. First days were boosted with getting to know the school building and meeting new schoolmates and friends. I was totally lost and confused at the beginning, but hey I was definitely not the only one. I was bashful and a bit insecure but I quickly adapted to the new environment.

The first year was full of changes, I realised I was a step closer to the adulthood and we all know that the older you get, the bigger decisions you have to make. So, my advice is to stay true to yourself and don’t let peer pressure affect you. Well, in the second year we kind of became wild and started going out. I re-member how we all connected and got to know each other better, because we started spending time together outside school, which really improved our re-lations. When it comes to subjects, that year was the hardest. Maybe because we were having so much fun that we didn’t pay as much attention to school as we did in the first year. I think we were more mature in the third year, because we knew the grades would have an impact on our decision about the college.

But that didn’t stop us from doing stupid things and get ourselves in trouble, although we did learn something from them. That year was full of parties be-cause we celebrated each other’s 18th birthdays and before we entered the last year of high school, we went on a trip to Greece and had the time of our lives. Well, when we did enter the fourth year, I felt like it would be a piece of cake, because we didn’t have as many subjects as in the previous years and we were familiar with the system of our school, but I quickly figured out that it would not be that easy to finish the last year and pass the matura exam.

It means a lot to have friends and schoolmates that share the similar problems. I think we are in one way very supportive and understanding to each other. I really can’t imagine going through high school years without them, it would be totally boring. But these years were and still are full of happiness and craziness and I don’t regret a single thing. I love this school with all its flaws and I will always remember it as a school with a unique and unforgettable spirit. If I had to choose some secondary school to attend, I would definitely choose Prva gimnazija Maribor again.

Mateja Divjak

HIGH SCHOOL YEARS

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Before I start I would like to congratulate all the former actors and actresses of The Theatre School of Prva gimnazija Maribor for their incredible and amazing success at all the theatre per-formances throughout all these years. Recently we’ve received the “Linhart” citation for a long-term professional and organi-zational work, cultural and educational mentors work and ex-cellent performances. Of course a great part of it goes to our professor mentor, Tjaša Klanjšček Bohinec, for all her knowl-edge and support she gave us. I am proud to be a part of it.

And now what can I tell you about our school theatre?

It of a four-year study in the fi eld of acting, developing of every single actor and upgrading the speech. Each academic year is led by a different mentor. There are different strate-gies and practical exercises for developing our acting. At the end of a year we present the performance we’ve been work-ing on. On the day of the premiere a lot of guests come and after the performance all actors go to a small party we have somewhere near. We do reprises and compete in Slovenian competition called Visions (Vizije). If the performance is good enough, the group travels to various European destinations and performs there. Work in a theatre group is educational, interesting, and most importantly - creative for each actor.

SCHOOL THEATRE

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Many people ask me why I decided to attend the School The-atre and I usually answer, that Prva gimnazija Maribor is in a beautiful building with a rich history and this is also what the theatre represents. I was always interested in acting and per-forming but in my previous school I had no opportunities to express myself because there was no theatre or drama group at all. Besides the knowledge I get in the fi eld of acting, I also learn a lot of life skills. Our black stage glows because of its magic and the amazing actors who stand on it.

Working in a group with others is also a challenge. You make new friendships and learn to know other people, their back-grounds and the way they think. Sometimes it’s diffi cult to fi nd a common opinion, but in the end everything goes back to the right place. It’s important to support each other and performing is the best way to show it.

If you are interested in acting and you want to improve your-self in it or if you are just a beginner, the School theatre of Prva gimnazija Maribor is the place you’re looking for. After four years of attending it, you become a smart, wise, experi-enced and educated person with an ability to think and real-ize your visions of your future life.

Andreja Ketiš Radič

andWHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO ACT

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After years and years of dancing, go-ing through all kinds of pleasant and unpleasant situations and giving up so many things my peers are taking for granted, I have realized that no mat-ter what am I going to do after I fin-ish grammar school, ballet will always stay a huge part of me. It made me who I am today and I am so grateful for my parents taking me to the first dance lesson which was about 10 years ago. I get thrilled when I think how fast those years flew by, but here I am, still dancing, but also paying at-tention to what has always been very important to me: good grades.

When I heard about Prva having the special class, called “E-oddelek” for students with extra curricular activ-ities, I said to myself: »This must be it. This is the only way I can continue with ballet and still get proper educa-tion for studying.« And I must admit I am really happy with this decision of mine. However, being a student of two different schools, being expected to do my very best on both sides, is not exactly easy, though. There are days when I have plenty of energy and then all of a sudden I just break down and think: »I can’t do this. Maybe I should quit.«

When time of a crisis comes, I try to remember all the tough situations I already have been through. I remind myself that ballet is not a fairytale and I am not a princess. There are tears, sweat and blood just like in every oth-er professional sport. But there is also

BALLET TEACHES YOU TO BE FLEXIBLE

endless happiness when you dance on stage and that pays off all what it takes to make something so effortless as dancing. Ballet also has taught me to stop complaining. I see some peo-ple, who are constantly complaining over everything that is not exactly they want it. In the world of dancing, hard work is the only way to achieve a desired goal. If something bothers you, you don’t say it out loud, but try to change it by yourself first. The other benefit of ballet is that you take a critic well. Dancers are used to be criticized and we don’t see a correc-tion as something negative. The same is in school; we understand that pro-fessors are only trying to help us, to make us better.

There is also patience. Understand-ing that progress does not come over night. That making the show spectac-ular or getting the highest grade takes effort to be put in. Some work and some self-discipline. Some studying instead of social networking. Some book over facebook.

The sooner you realize that some-times you have to deal with things the way they are, the easier educat-ing will be for you and dancing has definitely taught me that. Nothing is guaranteed. No success is provided but it is much more possible if you are creative. In ballet and in everyday life you need to be flexible. Literally and figuratively.

Laura Štampar

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Waking up in the morning with a smile and bursting excitement of a new day beginning is rare. But when there is a plane ticked waiting by your luggage and calling for you to get on your way that is exactly how it feels. Quickly jumping out of bed you scramble around check-ing for anything previously forgot-ten, hop into a comfy outfit and bid your room farewell. So, it is, the trip begins. Boarding the first plane heightens your excitement only to be flattened by the realization your next plane is scheduled to take off in four hours. Nevertheless, you fill it with light reading and drows-ing, the shuffle and racket of an alight airport haunting behind your ears. Lastly, the crowd around you grows, a voice over intercom an-nouncing the plane will be board-ing soon. Six hours on the plane speed by and already the belt sign blinks on. Nearing Abu Dha-bi, watching through the tiny air-plane window, you begin admiring the glistening city enveloped in the blackness of night. A sudden shud-der through the plane announces your arrival. Soon, moving round the airport you walk straight to-wards the exit, your father stealing a kiss and an embrace as soon as you’re out. Driving away you shamelessly gape in repeated amazement at your surroundings while feeling the warm air fill your lungs anew and hug your skin leav-ing you breathless. Palm trees line eight-line roads. Every third car is a Jeep. The road curves by the

Where will tomorrow take me?

Sheikh Zayed Mosque, illuminat-ed to contrast the night. Driving on the bridge leading over Al Maryah Island to the familiar Reem Island you realize home is near, await-ing for your arrival. The elevator touches ground slowly opening then closing you in. Automatically waiting for your father to swipe the card, allowing access to choose a floor, your hand trails a ghost path traveling to number 23. Four col-umns full of possibilities stay in your vision and you wonder if there will be a time you’ll see someone reach for the button in the upper right corner bringing the number 41 alight. But for tonight you admire the view from your balcony letting your eyes travel across Abu Dha-bi noting differences since the last time they did just this a few months ago. Comfort finds your heart with a rush of memories flooding your mind. Tiny edge of a pool showing right beneath you, glowing bright blue. The Galleria obscured from view on the Al Maryah Island. High-rises and villas under early construction creeping up, trying to overlay this new man-made Is-land. On the left stand Abu Dhabi and Al Wahda Mall. In your mind the memories made months, even years ago, repeat in fast forward as you look on, each building with its own story. At the end sleep wins over. Retreating inside and closing the balcony door, you make your way towards your bed. Lying in bed wrapped in a soft blanket in-haling the fresh smell you face the wall, close your eyes and wonder: “Where will tomorrow take me?”

Nives Križanec23

Maribor has a lot of places to go, but not everyone knows about them. So if you want to discover genuine Maribor in my opinion it is best shown by a local.

Report on: Young Tourists in Maribor

Guided tourGuided tour is probably the safest opti on to pick when going into some other city or even country. But if you really want to see plac-es that are in your interest you should probably plan your voca-ti on alone. Especially for young people that do not have the same interests as the older people.

Best places Kalvaria has probably one of the best views of Maribor. The most popular dance club is defi nitely Plus Minus. If you prefer metal scene Mc Pekarna is the pick for every darker. But if you just want to chill, then Maribor’s City Park is the best choice. In my opinion the best restaurant to have a quick but proper meal is Ancora.

Where not to go In my opinion Tezno has nothing to off er, because it is more of an industrial zone. What is more, if you are a young tourist some historical arti facts probably won’t interest you.

Nobody can tell you what the best choice to go is, because that depends on your interests. In Maribor you will defi nitely fi nd something to suit your taste.

Lea Leskovar

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Summer, no stress, going on vaca-ti on, forgetti ng what waking up for school at 6 am feels like… These are common thoughts that occu-py the mind of every student at Prva Gimnazija Maribor in one of the fi nal months, including mine. At the same ti me the end of the school year is so close yet so far and there is sti ll a lot of work to do. Have you ever wondered how we manage to keep it together?

The fi ft h month of the year is like a survival game for us. The plot of the game starts way back, let’s say in the middle of January, when the professors stressfully fi ll in our exam ti metables. You do not necessarily have to be religious to pray, but we all sti ll hope that May turns out bett er than in the previous years. Now that we know the cause of our survival problem we pati ently wait for the horror month, named aft er the Greek goddess Maia, to arrive. And be-fore we know it, it is here. HELP! What do I do now?!

This is where the batt le begins, you either give it your all or it’s going to go down in fl ames. Your survival essenti al kit should fi rst of all include a lot of caff eine, so you don’t end up falling asleep. Next on the list is chocolate, to keep your brain working and last but not least, moti vati on! Familiar with the expression ‘nine-to-fi ve’? Someti mes you turn AM into PM and end up being up all night,

because you simply run out of ti me and aft er all this is a survival game, so you never see true heroes sleep. Now, that we got our armour, we are ready to fi ght the zombies. I mean exams.

Week aft er week we keep on slaying zombies and eventually, aft er four weeks, they get defeated. I do not know where to begin with describ-ing the relief that goes through your body once you are fi nally free. There is no such feeling as successfully passing all your exams in May, not even the feeling of getti ng the last piece of pizza at dinner beats the excitement.

School might be like a survival game, but in the end it all pays off if you work hard enough, right? You just have to fi nd yourself, really decide why you are doing this and with that it can go nowhere but up. Oh, and last piece of advice, don’t leave things to the last minute. This equals zombies ti mes ten!

Nena Robinščak

Brace Yourselves, Three Tests per Week Are Coming

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As soon as you are given an ownership of a mobile phone you start entering a completely new world. A world with a great potenti al to be positi ve, but also a huge one to be negati ve. The way you see it is all up to you.

Ever since mobile phones have started to be produced, the inquiry aft er them has increased largely. In today’s world there are not many people that would not have one in their possession.

Mobile devices have for sure made our lives easier with features that enable us to communicate with people that live far away, mark important moments in our lives with taking pictures or videos and spending our free ti me without having to do anything. But making our life easier does not necessarily mean that it also makes it bett er.

When we use a mobile phone we oft en seem to loose contact with the out-side world. Surely, the internet access that phones also provide you with, will keep us in touch with everything happening in our universe, but it is not able to substi tute personal contacts every person needs to functi on normally.

Mobile phone usage has also become a big problem in schools, where kids use their phones during classes, which makes the job of teachers even harder. Up ti ll now teachers needed to take care of the discipline in class, but now they also need to make sure their students do not use phones during classes, which is very ti me consuming.

This problem should be solved at home with parents’ guidance before it even occurs at school. It should be every parent’s concern to limit their child’s phone usage and to encourage them to spend as much ti me with their peers as they can. As regards to school they should be stricter with the punishments children get for phone usage during the class.

To sum it all up, technology is gradually taking control over the world. We are not able to avoid it, but only need to adjust to it. However, everything has certain limits that have to be, at least in our childhood, controlled by our parents. It’s defi nitely in their hands to ensure that their children will not be ‘’consumed’’ by technology at an early age.

Špela Gumzej

MOBILE PHONES

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The mystery of Easter Island is something that has haunted people for the last 300 years and made them come up with many interesting theories about the origin of the giant stone statues.Easter Island is the world’s most isolated inhabited volca-nic island, lying 3700 km off the west coast of Chile. The fi rst residents seem to have been Polynesian and the is-land’s original name, Rapa Nui, is Polynesian. The Dutch were the ones who discovered it then again in 1722 and named it Easter Island, be-cause they arrived on Easter. They stumbled upon almost 900 statues, the tallest one being up to 10 m high, which were placed in the ground and facing away from the sea as if they were supposed to guard the villagers. Only seven were facing the sea to guard the travellers. The Polynesians believed in the importance and sanctity of the head, that’s why all the statues have similar character-istics: a big head with a large nose and heavy brows. They’re also called moai and are made out of volcanic rock. The moai represent the spirits of their ancestors and are supposed to guard them from evil and bad things. The bigger the moai,

the more important and higher position the person had. They can weigh up to 82 tons, but the usual ones that are 4 m high, weigh around 13 tons.It wasn’t only the appearance which haunted the discover-ers, it was also the mystery of how they were made and placed there. There are many theories which include aliens and supernatu-ral powers, but scientists and historians have a more likely explanation:The island, before the Dutch discovered it, was covered with a big forest. The Polynesians made those big moai by sim-ply craving them out of the rock and transported them by placing them on tree trunks and rolling them around. They made hundreds of those stat-ues and didn’t think ahead of what’s going to happen if they cut out the whole forest, that’s why there was no more wood left on the island after a while and people couldn’t make rafts to go fi shing.

After they hunted down and ate everything that was left to eat, they even turned to can-nibalism, which was the fi nal step leading to extinction of civilization on the island. We could say that the obsession with their religion took them down and that humanity could learn a lot from this example.

Lea Becner

Easter Islands

27

FOOD – A FRIEND OR AN ENEMY? Nowadays, we as humans are becoming real cowards when it comes to dif-ferent diseases. Our ancestors were living in the wild, eati ng everything they found and survived. They did not have any medicine to cure everything, but I guarantee you they were much healthier than we are today. One of our biggest problems today is being so sensiti ve about the food we eat. Not only that there are more and more eati ng disorders, the number of allergies and intolerances to diff erent kinds of food is increasing fast. Even though we are more aware of what we put into our mouth, that does not necessarily mean we are living a bett er life and that we will have less problems than people did hundred years ago. I am a living proof of that.

My mother is somewhat obsessed with healthy food and ever since I can remember, everything in our house was either organic or ecologi-cally produced. We mostly buy our food directly from a farmer or from the organic shops. However, that did not protect me from being extremely sensiti ve to food. For the past year I had many problems with digesti on and my stomach and no doctor could help me in any way. They did fi nd out that I had lactose intolerance, but when I stopped drinking and eati ng everything that involved milk things were sti ll the same. So they put me on a strict diet, which involved cut-ti ng from the menu everything that contained gluten, soya, corn or lacto-se. I can tell you, that living without bread and pasta is awful, but for me, the worst thing in the world was surviving without coff ee, which they also recommended me not to drink. At fi rst, it was really hard to get used to this new way of life, but It was probably easier for me, than it would be for any of my friends. At least I was used to eati ng rabbit food since I was litt le.

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When I was fi rst forced to change my already strange eati ng habits, I did a lot of research. It shocked me, that almost one third of all the people in the world cannot digest milk or anything that contains lactose. The number of people with celiac disease is also increasing rapidly, which should concern us more than it does. At least I can say that life for people with intolerances is easier today, because of the growing number of people who have them. You can fi nd all sorts of products that are lactose or gluten free, from delicious puddings, to bread, cookies and a hundred types of milk made from rice or almonds. A person can get used to anything if they have to, but I cannot lie and say that I do not miss all the things that I may not eat. You must be in-venti ve to survive and learn how to bake things like bread or pastry at home, using fl our without gluten.

Aft er everything that I’ve been through I could not help but wonder, if eati ng food that we call healthy is really that good for us. I always ate my fru-its and vegetables and that only led me to being intolerant to more food than a person, who eats junk food all the ti me. Of course I can’t say that there is a defi nite connecti on, maybe I’m just more sensiti ve, but sti ll it opens a lot of questi ons. In the end, I think it’s best you eat whatever your body is telling you to, and as long as you feel good, you should be all right.

L.V.

29

I really don’t know how to begin this. I am sitti ng here, trying to come up with a perfect introducti on to story of the voyage that changed my life forever. The great stories al-ways start with introducti ons, which make people want to read them. ‘’It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen’’, ‘’Call me Ismail’’, ‘’Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhap-py in its own way’’. They foretell the idea of the story while sti ll retaining that area of mysti cism. It ignites the hidden spark of desire in you, which forces you to read on and on; to go forward unti l the end. The true vir-tue and quality of a great writer can already be seen, not just in the fi rst sentence but in the fi rst few words of a book. Well, I guess I have a lot to compete with. So I’ll just start with this.

Way back in the old days (either late June or early July 2013) does our story begin. One day before class, the arti sti c director of SNG came to talk to us about the plans for the upcoming year and one of those things just happened to be parti c-ipati on in the ballet festi val, called Savcor Ballet 2013 held every year in Mikkeli Finland since 1995, when the great Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya was performing. Anyway, we were supposed to be parti cipati ng with the third act of Paquita, Radio and Juliet (a modern interpretati on of a

ti meless story) and last but not least, Krzystof’s Novogrotzky’s producti on of Don Quixote (a ballet of which I have writt en about two years ago). But there was sti ll one problem. Nothing was yet confi rmed. So, now came the long two months of waiti ng ti ll September.

And before you could even say ‘’wait’’ the second of September rolled around. And once again Mr. Clug was in the studio. This ti me with some really great news. The festi val was on. We were due to go on the 16th October. So now, basically the only problem was putti ng the whole show together (as in Don Quixo-te and Paquita). And the dreaded rehearsals began shortly. The late nights, early mornings and hours, days spent in the ballet studio (and as my teachers can confi rm, not in school). But in the end, it all paid of.

And soon came the dreaded date; the 16th October. We left in the early morning, I think it was around 5 or 6 AM, that we left rainy Maribor, sti ll wrapped in the thin veil of slumber. Around 10:30 we arrived to Lju-bljana, got checked in for our fl ight to Helsinki, and an hour and a half later boarded the fl ight and around 14:30 (according to their ti me) ar-rived at our desti nati on. From there we went by bus and aft er of about 12 hours (altogether) of travelling, arrived to a small, but lovable town of Mikkeli. Aft er arriving there, we were staying in, we all got our codes and got checked in. Let me explain; the locati on reminds a litt le bit of a motel, with only basic outside infra-structure, only stairs, halls and then

A journey across the Baltic Sea (and beyond)

30

rooms. It is called an internet hotel, where you reserve the rooms over the internet. That is it. Very practi cal. So, aft er checking in we went to din-ner. And, I will, for all future purpos-es, strain a litt le bit from the original story, to tell you about the food. It is amazing. There was not a taste bud left untouched and unexcited. But surprisingly, as I heard, very healthy. I had thought I would eat so much, I’d return 10 kg heavier. Now, to get back on track.

The next day we had our fi rst re-hearsal on stage. So, as you can imag-ine, not all went according to plan. We soon found out we had severely limited number of curtain drop-downs, so we had to change all the changing (at least the quick ones) of the scenes. And aft er the brutal fi rst rehearsal, we went to the hotel and literally fell in to our matt resses.

The following evening it was our fi rst show of DQ, with Anastasia and De-nis Matvienko dancing the leading roles. All in all, it wasn’t that bad. There were a few glitches, but noth-ing worth menti oning. One down, two more shows to go.

The second show was the next morn-ing. Viktor Ishchuk and Elizaveta Cheprasova were dancing Kitri and Basil. It was truly amazing, seeing someone who could dance with such precision, passion and… the word I would use, would be vigour and the-atricality. When they were dancing, they weren’t just portraying charac-ters. They became ones themselves; young lovers, who overcame their obstacles and in the end rejoiced in

their love. And considering they had no rehearsal, except for the varia-ti ons and pas de deuxs, it was truly excepti onal. Some roles I am also obliged to tell you about, because they were extremely memorable here. But to really capture all the emoti ons, you could possibly experi-ence, I will leave you with the entry I made in my journal, which I kept during my stay there. Anyway, the part is from the entry I made the last day, partly writt en in the hotel room, partly on the bus ride to the airport.

21st October, Mikkeli, Finland

Hotel room, Bus

Well, the deed is done. All three shows of Don Quixote were fi nished (plus Paquita and Radio & Juliet), all with great success. The second show was (at least in my opinion) awesome. Viktor and Eli-zaveta were danced the principal roles. They were so good. Not just technically, but as far as acti ng goes. Sure, there was maybe one or two glitches in the show (every show has them), but when they were dancing together all that disappeared and all was left was them and the roles they were born to play. Aft er the show I even got a picture with Viktor.

The next show was in the evening, with Anastasia and Denis dancing Kitri and Basil. Of course they were also super band and all that jazz. But if I had to choose I would say, that Viktor and Elizaveta were bett er. They had this glow around them, when they were dancing, it was simply magical; it was as if all the bad things

31

evaporated from the world, and all that was left , was pure, unadulterat-ed love. I will never forget that sight. It was like being close to eden. Sim-ply, divine. The whole ensemble was its feet. We really all came together in this performance.

The last two shows were Paquita and Radio and Juliet. The fi rst one, Paquita was danced by Elizaveta and Viktor in the lead with the ensemble and soloists of SNG Maribor. I have to say, that for observer the show was a massive success and was rehearsed almost to perfecti on. Like in DQ, with the help of the principals, the whole cast came together in this wonderful thing which we call, classical ballet. I also have to menti on two soloists, which were dancing the variati ons in this work. The fi rst one is Catarina De Meneses’ variati on, not being composed by Ludwig Minkus, but by Nikolai Tcherepnin. In this beauti ful and graceful variati on, Catarina re-ally brought something extra to this variati on, wrapping in a beauti ful veil of grace and elegance. The second variati on was danced by Teti ana Svitlichnaya, which is full of jumps, pirouett es and all in all, technique which I must say is very close to one of Kitri’s variati ons, which are full of jumps, energy etc. In a variati on, which was very suited to her, Teti ana surprised me once again.

The last show of the festi val was Ra-dio & Juliet, choreographed by our very own Edward Clug. Created in 2005, it has since been seen all over the world, including St. Petersburg (Mariinsky theatre), Kiev, Cremo-na and many more. It is basically a

modern interpretati on of the story of Romeo & Juliet, done on the mu-sic of the group called, Radiohead. The show itself is incredible, but like many other works of this master of modern ballet (Tango, Lacrimas, Watching others…) the beauty is in its interpretati on. From surgical masks, white gloves, walls literally tumbling down, this piece is full of emoti on, technical virtuosity and character. Like one of the cast members said, as I was talking to them: ‘’Everyone can be either Romeo, Tybalt or Mer-cuti o, but there is only one - Juliet. It all depends on how you look at it’’. At the end of the show the audience was, to say the least, livid. Everyone was screaming, clapping, basically on their feet. Truly an amazing per-formance. Then, just as it began, it quickly ended.

The festi val was over. And now I am sti ll sitti ng here, trying to come up with perfect words, to de-scribe the journey and festi val that changed my life forever. But sadly there is not a word in the enti re En-glish language, that would express the passion and beauty I have been lucky enough to have witnessed and experience during this brief week, when I had the pleasure to share the stage with such extraordinary danc-ers and people, who I can only aspire to be the future come one in .

Tomaž Golub

32

To people who are still searching,To people who do not know about desire,

To people, whose heart does not burn in fi re,

To people nobody knows.

To strangers, who change lives,

To people who desire,

To those whose heart has caught on fi re,

To those who are looking for themselves,

To those that will know something,

about people that nobody knows.

To people that will put each other’s hearts on fi re,

To people who will desire,

What they least expected.

To those who want to know each other,

To every little dark corner,To those who will cherish,

What the Lord has brought them.

To all of us.

To people that one day will know,

They have found what they’ve been looking for.

Sabina Majerič

TO FUTURE

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Soft velvet wavesFlooded the beach,

And I’m looking at the stars’ shapes;Th ey’re so hard to reach...

But if I stretch outMy arm and forget about

How small we are,I can clearly imagine us reaching so far

Your attitudeGets on my nerves.Your pulchritude

Is irritating.Your grace

Drives me crazy.But still,

I want your embrace.

Pia Krampl

VELVET

I SEE RED WHEN I SEE YOU

34

THE POINT OF SAVING THE EARTHIt is importantthat we heal illwhich had been long beforewe came to sacrifi ceourselves.It is relevant tothinkour livesin the grand scheme of thingsdo notmatter.We are the matter,pale green blue,white polka dotson black sheets,expanding,going in and outand spreadingtowardsthe greatwideunknown.It is important to savenot ourselvesbut a piece of the matter.Th e stars are socloseanyhow.

MINUTE PLANS ARE NOT PROPHECIESI was full of energyup untilthe universe conspired against usagain.You are half the moonand all the sunand warm waterswhich bathe the birdsat nightand you lift me up,but this is all I will ever be,maybe until the stars combustand your irises explode,until my armscatch fi reand daylight is no more.Th ese promises we makeare not universal.I have to hold onto something,but time isonly silver dustand hours stretchintonothing.All over again,I will learnto be the Earth. A.H.

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